Longer chapter lol :)
✦❘༻♡♡♡༺❘✦
Pavitr still couldn't find the anomaly.
After he left the foreigner in the dorm, he indeed did not go to class, but went to find the anomaly. But after doing a lot of searching and swinging, he still couldn't spot the anomaly.
Usually, anomalies were easy to find. It was either a villain of a spider person or the spider person themselves. They'd stick out, cause chaos. But after asking around, he still couldn't seem to locate it.
He didn't want to ask Miguel. He said he could handle it, and he wanted to show Miguel that it was true. But after a good few hours of searching, he became unsuccessful.
He swung onto a pole and balanced himself atop it. He bent his knees and put his hand to his face with a sigh. He looked over the street, waving to those who waved at him. He let his mind wander while he was taking a break from his search.
He thought back to the girl he's sharing his dorm with. She was a strange one. There aren't maybe people from abroad that come to India for holidays. Let alone do challenges like she was. He was a little intrigued by her.
He wasn't entirely sure why he decided to help her. Maybe it was because he was intrigued by her. Or maybe it was an impulse decision. Or maybe it was because he thought she needed the help to get around Mumbattan.
Whatever it was, it made his mind wander back to her. It must've been bored for her, he thought to himself. Staying in the room. Maybe if he gave her a little tour of Mumbattan, or at least the area around there she could go out for herself.
She'd like that, he assumed.
✦❘༻♡♡♡༺❘✦
I took a nap.
After Pavitr left me, I fell onto the bed and passed out. Turns out travelling between dimensions takes a lot of energy. I felt like I could sleep for weeks. The bed was surprisingly comfortable too.
But my nap was cut short.
I got jumpscared by a knock on the window. I shot up from the bed forgetting about the low roof and banging my head on the rood with a whack. I hissed in pain and rubbed front part of my head I hit off the ceiling.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." My muscles tense at the sound of a voice. It's a familiar yet slightly covered voice behind me. I turn back to look, and my muscles immediately relaxed at the sight of the familiar fluffy haired boy in a mask.
Spiderman gazed up at me from the floor. I cross my legs sitting on the top bunk and stare down at him.
"Hi foreigner. How are you?" He asks me. I glance around the dorm before looking back at him and shrugging.
"I don't know. I have a place to live now!" I respond with a slight smile. "The guy I share the room with is a nice guy too. He's really sweet."
I added that last part knowing the man standing below me is also the guy I share this dorm with. I see his face light up at the compliment.
"Wow! Th-" He stumbles over his words and clears his throat, the shine in his expression leaving. "I mean, that's great to hear!"
I stifle a laugh at his reaction. I tilt my head at the guy standing in the middle of the dorm room.
"What are you doing here anyway?" I asked genuinely. I'm sure he had many other important things to do, being Spiderman and all. But all he did was shrug.
"I've got free time. And I was thinking I could take you out for a tour of Mumbattan?"
"Oh! Wait, why?"
"So you don't have to stay in here all day. You don't have anything to entertain yourself either."
My heart warms at how thoughtful he was. I smiled gratefully at him. "That's so kind of you."
"Meh, It's nothing." He shrugged with a slight smile, trying to be humble. It brought a little smile to my face. He's so sweet.
"Come on!" He beckoned as he walked towards the door. He tried opening it, but Pavitr locked it before he left. When he tried going out the door it made me realize something, so I asked him on it.
"Wait how did you know I was here?" I asked him. I furrowed my eyebrows a little, in fake confusion, just to mess with him a bit more.
He pauses in his tracks, and it takes everything in me not to start burst out laughing. This guy does not know how to hide his identity at all.
"I- I know Pavitr! Through- things. Mutual friends and things." He lies, trying to explain himself. I roll my eyes with a smile at how unprepared he is at being Spiderman.
I clamber down the bunk bed ladder and open the drawer where I left the key Pavitr gave me. I grabbed it and went towards the door. Spiderman moved a little out of the way to let me unlock the door. I did just that and opened the door. We walk out of the dorm and I close the door behind me, locking it as well.
We walk down the hallway towards the stairs to go out, when I decide I should strike up a conversation.
"Say, how long have you been Spiderman for now?" I ask him, genuinely curious if this lack of excuses for things was because he was new to Spiderman or he was just a dumb guy.
"A few months!" He almost immediately responded. He was quick to answer, without thought, like he was eager to talk. "Maybe three months? Four months now? I don't know, it's easy to lose count."
"What, you don't remember the day you became Spiderman?" I questioned.
"Well, I remember the day, I just don't remember what day." He says nonchalantly. He reaches his arms out and stretches. "I live in the present! No use in thinking of the past, you know?"
I hum in agreement. That's a nice way to live. I wish I could have such a carefree mindset like him.
We make it outside and there's a yellow auto rickshaw waiting for us. Spiderman gestures towards it with a grin.
"These are 'auto's! They're auto rickshaws, but we call them 'auto's for short here. They're your taxis." Spiderman explains. I nod in acknowledgment.
We climb into the 'auto' and the driver looks at us in awe. It's probably not everyday Spiderman calls you to be his taxi driver.
And there started the tour.
✦❘༻♡♡♡༺❘✦
We went around Mumbattan in the auto rickshaw for a while. Spiderman would keep pointing out things, like traffic when we got stuck in traffic, nice restaurants he liked to eat in, and a place where the 'British stole all their stuff.'
There were also a lot of flower stalls around, where people sold garlands of flowers. I thought that was pretty.
It was fun, we had a few laughs here and there. A lot of it was making fun of the British, as a joke. He also mentioned that he had a British friend, which I assumed was Hobie Brown, Spider-Punk.
We got off on one of the calm streets. There weren't many vehicles or people around, but enough to have a tea stall apparently. That's where our next stop was, this tea stall.
"You have stalls specifically for tea?" I ask him in awe.
"They sell other things too, but it's main purpose is tea." Spiderman explains and goes up to the guy in the stall, sticking two fingers up. "Two teas please, bhaiya!"
"Of course sir!" The man said, immediately starting to brew up tea for us.
Spiderman sat himself down on the bench outside the stall, and as soon as he did I followed, taking the space beside him.
"Hey, you know what I haven't told you about?" Spiderman says, starting a new conversation.
"Go on then." I respond, open to more conversation. Conversations with him were always fun and interesting.
"The movies. There's one actor I really like, he's a South Indian actor, a Tamil one. His name is Sivakarthikeyan, and my favourite movie he did is called Remo. No, actually, Hero." Spiderman rambled on, speaking quickly about his favourite movie.
It made me wonder if we had the same actors and movies in our universe. I should check for Sivakarthikeyan when I go back.
After a certain point in his little rant, I stopped listening, and pretended to listen. That sounds bad. No, I was listening. I was just tuning out a lot of his words. But I smiled at how passionate he was about it. He looked so happy explaining it, like he was buzzing. He radiated happy vibes, and it unwillingly brought a smile to my face.
Ah, the powers of Spiderman.
His little ramble was interrupted by the man in the stall, who had prepared our tea. It was in two little glass cups. Spiderman paused himself and received the teas. He gave me a glass and unknowingly, I grabbed it by the body of the cup. I immediately reel back at the touch of the piping hot glass. Maybe that's why he was holding it by the rim.
Spiderman's face dropped in concern. He set the tea down and took my hand and examined my fingers. They didn't look hurt thankfully, just a little red.
"I'm fine, Spiderman." I reassured him before he could say anything. He looked back up at me, the eye parts of his mask creasing upwards in concern.
"You sure?" He asked, gently caressing the tips of my fingers. The small touch made my heart race a little, making my unnecessarily nervous. I pulled my fingers away slowly and nodded.
"Yeah, I'm sure. I should have known it would've been hot to hold, my fault." I said, putting my hands up in acknowledgement. I took the one of the cups that were on the bench by the rim this time, which was still hot, but cool enough to hold.
I start drinking my tea (which was really good by the way), and Spiderman picks his up. But instead of drinking it, he just holds his. I peer at him and wonder what he was doing and not drinking it.
"Aren't you going to drink it?" I queried. He points at his mask in response.
"I have to take off my mask to drink it. Which-" He pauses and sighs, lightly smacking his forehead. "I should've thought of that before buying it."
I let out a laugh. As I started laughing, Spiderman started laughing along with me. It was a genuine laugh from me, because I was enjoying this. I wasn't forcing anything. Spending time with him automatically put a smile on my face.
My heart felt warm.
I finished my tea, while Spiderman couldn't. He ended up giving it to the man at the stall to drink, but still paid for it.
I looked around in my seat for a moment as he was talking with the stall man. I noticed another flower stall. There's been quite a few of them around the place, and it was just making me more curious.
"Hey, Spiderman?" I poke at his arm to get his attention. He looks down at me with a smile.
"Yeah?" He responds.
"I've noticed around the place, some people selling flowers. Is there any culture behind that?"
He looks around and spots a flower stall himself. He looks back at me and nods his head towards it, gesturing me to follow him. As he walks towards the stall, I do as he implied and follow him.
"Flowers do have significance in Indian culture. It's often you see women wearing them here, have you noticed that?" He explains as we walk.
Now that he says that, I do remember seeing quite a few women with flowers in their hair. I nod in acknowledgment. I thought that was more a fashion thing than culture thing.
"Well, it's often people buy flowers as offerings for the Hindu gods and for pooja. After pooja, they tend to put it in their hair." He continues to explain. I listen to him intently, intrigued by his culture.
"That's very interesting." I admitted. I liked hearing about this culture. It seems so pretty.
When we get to the stall he looks back at me and smiles. "But there's more."
I tilt my head and look at him expectantly. Instead he turns to the woman at the stall and speaks to her in Hindi. She nods and takes her long garland of white flowers and chops off half a foot off it. She puts it in a plastic bag and give it to him. He gives her a few notes and she gives him a thanking gesture.
Spiderman lightly puts his hand on my back, leading me away from the stall. The small touch sends a little shiver down my spine. I try to ignore it.
He leads me down a little and stop at a bridge. He goes up to the wall of the bridge and sits himself on it. I walk over to the wall and peer over it. We were quite high from the floor. I look at him, a little nervous to sit on such a dangerous wall.
"Don't worry. I can catch you if you fall. I'm Spiderman, don't forget." He pats the space next to him and grins at me.
Realizing that he was right, I gave in and sat myself on the wall. It was a thick enough wall, so there was enough space to feel secure.
Spiderman gestured with his finger for me to turn around. I furrow my eyebrows slightly and tilt my head in confusion. Seeing that I wasn't going to turn on command, he takes my shoulder and turns me around gently. I didn't stop him, curious on what he was trying to do.
That was when I felt something in my hair. I felt fingers thread my hair. I stiffened a little, wondering what he was doing in my hair.
"Let me explain more culture behind flowers. This time, jasmine flowers." He started, as I felt something jab into my scalp. I yelped a little and brought my hand up to my head to feel his fingers and something cold.
"Don't take it out!" He exclaimed, worried I was about to take out whatever was in my hair.
Then I immediately get hit with the scent of something. The scent of something nice. It smelt soothing. That's when I realized what he had put in my hair. I turned back around to face him.
"Did you put jasmine flowers in my hair?" I asked him, a bit shocked. A smile was immediately pasted onto his face at the fact I figured it out and he nodded vigorously.
"Any foreigners who come to India always ask about the spices, like saffron or cardamom. But no one talks about the significance of jasmine flowers!" He ranted. I let out a little laugh at this.
"Okay then, I'll ask. What is the significance of jasmine flowers?" I ask, giving him the satisfaction of being able to answer that question.
"Well, I'm not sure in Mumbattan, but in Tamil Nadu, lots of women traditionally wear jasmine flowers. Scientifically, their scent is very soothing and relaxes the mind. But it also looks pretty!" He happily explains, as if he's wanted to explain this to someone for a while.
"But that's not all." He continues. "In western culture, men give their girls red roses, right? Well, here, men give their lovers jasmines instead! They also use jasmines in wedding garlands too!"
As he explains the culture behind jasmine flowers, I touch the jasmine flowers in my own hair. He must be right, because I liked the scent it gave off, and I was starting to feel more relaxed than I was a few moments ago. When he explains the romantic part of jasmine flowers, I feel my heart beat increase in pace a little. I feel myself involuntarily smile at him.
"You just gave me jasmine flowers. Does that mean you like me?" I say as a joke with a teasing smile. He immediately stiffens and frantically waves his hand in front of me.
"No! I mean, yes, I like you, but not like that! It was to explain culture and- and stuff like that you know?" He stumbled over his words. I laugh lightly at his reaction and gave him a playful smack in the arm.
"I know, big guy. Just joking with you." I laugh, and as I do he laughs along with me.
I was getting used to this.
✦❘༻♡♡♡༺❘✦
We finished the tour and an hour or two later I ended back up outside the hostel. The exhaustion was starting to set in at this point. I was growing weary. Spiderman was still beside me though.
"I'll leave you now. Ever need me again just- tell Pavitr. He'll get you to me." He told me. I nodded, my head clouded by thought.
"Thanks." I managed to get out.
"Huh?"
"Thank you for doing this for me. You could be helping anyone else out here, but you're helping me." I thanked him. It was at this point I realised that I hadn't properly thanked him for helping me as much as he is. He was taking care of me, paying for my stuff, and doing everything for someone like me who's only going to be here for a while when he could be out helping anyone else.
"I mean- well-" He chuckles nervously. He shrugs nonchalantly before continuing. "I can't help everyone. I learnt that pretty early in my career as Spiderman."
Suddenly he swung his web and latched onto the window bars on top of the entrance. He pulled himself up to the top of the main door's frame. He balanced himself atop of it, leaning outwards with one foot on the door frame and one hand holding onto his web.
"I can't change the world!" He calls from up there. I stroll towards him craning my neck upwards to look at him. "But I if I can help someone out, I could change that person's world, if you know what I mean."
He puts both feet on the door frame and crouches down. I stare at him in awe. I knew Spider people were supposed to be noble and all, but with every word he said it made my heart grow. He was so kind and the way he thought was so optimistic. I smiled up at him.
"Yeah. Yeah I get it." I glance at him one last time before walking into the hostel and hit with the familiar scent of the hostel. I hear a thud from behind me. I turn around to see Spiderman had come back down onto the floor. I smile at him again and continue. "I guess I can say you've changed my world."
I see him raise his eyebrows in surprise. A smile creeps onto his face, which turns into a grin. He chuckles lightly, then starts laughing. Was this the first time someone had told him this? Whatever it was, it was nice to hear him laugh. His laugh always brought a smile to my face.
I turned on my heel and mosey on up to the dorm. As I expected, Spiderman was following me. We got to the dorm and I unlocked the dorm. I walked in as did Spiderman. I discarded the keys on the desk and immediately crawled up the ladder to my bed. I flopped onto the bed and let out a content sigh.
"You're very interesting, foreigner." Spiderman commented. I let out a small laugh at the way he referred to me.
"Is that a thing for Indians? Calling foreigners, well, foreigners?" I asked.
"Well, that's what you are! It's- It might just be a me thing."
"Well my roommate calls me that too."
"Oh uh, wow! Really! What- I mean-" He stutters. I laugh at this and cut him off.
"My name's Y/N."
"Huh?"
"My name's Y/N L/N. You can stop calling me foreigner now."
I could see Spiderman stiffen his shoulders from the corner of my eye. He nodded firmly and cleared his throat.
"Okay." He walks towards the window. My gaze follows him as he does. "I'll see you later then, Y/N."
He bids his farewell. I managed to give him a wave, but I couldn't say anything back. Because by then he's out the window. I lay in bed with a smile on my face.
After he's gone, I drift to sleep almost immediately.
But my sleep was cut shorter than I wanted it to be. Because I wake up to glitching again.
It's something I think I'd never get used to. The ear ringing pain that I have to go through every couple hours. It varies, from an hour or two, or even ten hours.
I managed to glitch off the bed, which had me thump onto the floor. I landed on my arm, and I groaned in pain. Man this glitching sucked.
I rolled over onto my back and lay there, staring at the ceiling. I decided I was too lazy to get back onto the bed, and I was okay with sleeping on the floor. It was dark outside too, and the lights weren't on in the room, so I was laying in almost pitch dark. There was a small glow coming through the window.
I don't know how long I was laying there on the floor, but before I could fall asleep I heard the door unlock. The door opened with a screech and the lights turned on. I squeezed my eyes shut at the sudden ray of light being shone in my face.
"Hello there. Why are you on the floor?" I heard Pavitr's voice from behind me. I slightly groaned as I got up, my arm still aching in pain from when I fell on it.
I sat upright, still on the floor and turned around to face Pavitr. I shrugged, leaning my hands against the floor.
"I fell off the bed. Do not ask how." I emphasised. Pavitr obeyed, he didn't ask.
"What we're you doing today?" He asked instead. He tugged on his tie and pulled it off, discarding it in a drawer.
I smiled mischievously at his question. "Oh, nothing much." I said nonchalantly.
"Oh." Pavitr deadpanned, his face dropping in disappointment. I stifled a giggle, and continued.
"But I had a fun day." I added. His face immediately lit up, and I saw a smile creep onto his face.
"That's-!" He clears his throat as he bounces over to his bed and plops himself on it. "That's good to hear."
He kicked his legs out and looked around. He smacked his lips and moved his gaze back to me.
"So-" He trailed off. "What do you want to do?"
I tilted my head to the side and looked around the room. What did I want to do? I spotted the laptop on the desk in the room, and thought of an idea.
"Hey! I actually got recommended this movie, maybe we could watch it. I think it was called Hero? Do you know it?" At the mere mention of the movie title his face lit up like the sun. The elation on his face radiated.
"Yes! I have it on my laptop! Let's watch it!" He says eagerly, rushing to grab his laptop on the desk. I chuckle at his actions and sit down on the bed next to him.
I was starting to settle in really well. And I was starting to forget about my real home.
✦❘༻பக்கம்༺❘✦
Bonus:
Y/N: I think I see why you like this actor
Pav: Huh, wait why?
Y/N: You are literally the same person
This is so stupid